Beginner Solar

[Putts]

Stay ahead of.insanity. by ignoring it

Sig Line material if I've ever seen it.

[Blacktank]

this morning the battery is at 13v so i left the controller plugged in and turned on a light to lower that

the stupid magic box isnt turning itself off thus not controlling the charge,plus it tells me 13v is 80%soc

just going to ignore it and continue as normal but if i get to the point i know it's not me and the controller keeps cooking the battery i'm going to go from iritatted to pissed and take it out on renogy for false advertising

[sternwake]

This controller was something like 23$ during their firesale, delivered.

It is likely the best 23$ solar controller one could ever hope for.

If you were removing 20 to 25Ah from the battery each night, it would likely do a pretty good job at bringing the battery to full with a hundred watt panel.

But you seemingly are leaving the panel connected to it, when there are no overnight loads, so the battery is still fully charged first thing in the morning, and then the controller, following its algorithm, unnecessarily brings the battery to 14.7v and hold it there for 2 hours, overcharging it, causing it to outgas, lose water, and shed positive plate material and to raise your indignant hackles.

If your battery is still 13v in the morning, it has not been discharged at all and is still retaining its surface charge from the day before, and requires NO MORE CHARGING.

So You can shake your fist at Renogy, but this controller is not doing anything unexpected.
The only issue is the nut loose behind the wheel.

For a charge controller to recognize a fully charged battery it would need to know the capacity of the battery, and it would need to know the DC loads on that battery, and when it is being held at 14.x volts, when amps into the battery tapered to such and such an amperage, then it would revert to float voltage and even if it knew all these variables, at which point it would revert to float voltage is still largely a guess, though a much more educated one than a simple egg timer absorption stage.

Since this ability to sense a fully charged battery, requires a shunt inline, knowing how many amps are flowing into the battery, and not other DC loads, the controller has absolutely no freaking idea at what state of charge the battery is at. None. So it is programmed to hold absorption voltage, like an egg timer and hopes that it is 'good enough'.

THERE IS NO fucking magic sensor on any electronic gizmo, which can dig into a lead battery and determine if it is fully charged!

A timed absorption voltage stage, can only perfectly charge a battery from a certain depth of discharge with a certain amount of solar wattage available. The 99.9% rest of the time, it is either over or undercharging the battery.

And Such is life with a 23$ solar controller.

And since your morning voltage is 13.0v, indicating you are not discharging this battery at all overnight, small amounts of light
and small amounts of solar wattage can then allow this controller to bring the battery to absorption voltage, for those 2 hours, when it is absolutely not required.

Especially on a new healthy battery. If the battery were old and abused and sulfated perhaps the overcharge would do something good, but not on a battery which does not need it.

Your insistence at putting any weight into the battery % reading on this controller, is frustrating, and is only seeking to confuse you further.

Ignore the Fucking % reading. it will never be anywhere near accurate.

Think of this controller as an overvoltage preventing device. it will not allow the solar panel to bring the battery above 14.7v( assuming it is not freezing cold, as it does have the temp sensor).

it cannot not and will not sense a fully charged battery, and instantly revert to float voltage.

If you were to drain 25Ah from the battery nightly, then 100 watts and a 2 hour egg timer absorption stage would be satisfactory.

Ignore the fucking % display.

[TrainChaser]

THIS IS ALL VERY CONFUSING! I intend to have some solar when I hit the road. Can't someone just pour all the information into a syringe so I can inject it into my brain?

[Blacktank]

the soc% is not only off it's way off like 25% off,right now it is encouraging me to plug the panel in and burn up my battery,i call bs
why put a way off sensor in your product? no sensor would be better than one thats way off and encouraging damage

stupid magic boxes

not named the sacrificial battery just because,will get the fridge hooked up and draw some juice

ass backward Gary cant draw enough juice and a 100w is to much

[sternwake]

A discharged battery needs to be brought upto and held in the mid 14 volt range for aperiod of time, and ideally once fully chrged, then it will either be completely removed from the charging source, or the charging source will lower the electrical pressure(voltage) to the low 13v range, which keeps the battery from discharging.

Sounds simple, but the lead acid battery is happiest when fully charged, and achieving full charge will require different times from different states of charge have very different requirements.

Perfectly chrging lead acid batteries from low levels of discharge and from states of deep discharge, requires very different parameters. NO cheap product can hope to do both.

If it is all too confusing, then just accept the fact that an imperfectly chrged battery will fail earlier, and move on. Join the legions of those who whisper 'works just fine' and revel in 'ignorance is bliss' and when the battery goes tits up, replace it.

No one needs to try and deploy the perfect automatic charging system.
It does not exist.

Everything is a compromise, always, and this 23$ solar controller is very basic, no bells no whistles and no magic physics and reality defying features.

Most everything 'automatic' is just dumbed down and highly imperfect, but automatic sells and seems to be a blind requirement on any product or task today, and max profit makes the todays world go round.

[sternwake]

good god Man, fucking ignore the fucking goddamn % screen. What about this is so hard to grasp?

a battery at 13v 12 hours off the charging source is still fucking fully charged.

If you do not need to discharge the battery, Don't. Unplug the fucking solar panel for a few days.

The panel and controller are working, and now that the battery is fully charged, they are unneeded, as you are not dicharging the battery as you are not living inside it and usinng electricity overnight. Until you do discharge the battery, unplug the fucking goddamn solar panel from the fucking charge controller and spend your time and efforts elsewhere.

You've determined the panel and controller works, and now you do not need them. so do not use them, and for fucks sake man, ignore that fucking % screen.

Turn your battery switch to off and in 4 days the battery will still likely read 12.9v or higher, meaning it is still fucking fully charged.

Dont discharge the battery just to see how well the solar setup works.

Heree a news flash, it works imperfectly!

Move on.

[Blacktank]

no ,i spent $23 on a magic box to keep my battery at float and prevent any damage and instead got a way off sensor,boiling battery,manual disconnecting panel and magic box guessing,if it comes to guessing i would much rather it be me,sure i could find a knob to step down that panel voltage,tubes,i need tubes,that's it i'm going steampunk,boiler is on order

i cant ignore battery soc%,it.s there everytime i look at the controller,flashing in my face

whens that solar flare that suppose to kill all this stuff?

breaking news,man attacks mainframes with super soaker full of coca cola


i got sun juice to test out my fridge now,lets go see if that thermostat is working

[rvpopeye]

Put a piece of electrical tape over that part of the display................

[Blacktank]

battery soc% is ridiculously bad
going to start checking the voltage to see if it is correct

amps,assuming it is close,what amps should i be disconnecting the panel at?